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Financial Spring Cleaning

Coming down with a case of spring-cleaning fever? Now is also a perfect time to tidy up your finances. As you start to declutter and reorganize, don’t forget to dust off of your finances. The best part of the following tips is they don’t involve a mop or a broom.

Coming down with a case of spring-cleaning fever? Embrace it! Now is also a perfect time to tidy up your finances. As you start to declutter and reorganize, don’t forget to dust off of your finances. The best part of the following tips is they don’t involve a mop or a broom.

Documents

There are documents for everything, from billing statements to financial statements, and everything in between. It can all accumulate at an amazing rate. As you find documents you no longer need, use a cross-cut shredder to securely dispose of them. This is also a good time to create, or review, a list of your vital documents, which should be stored in a secure place, such as a safe deposit box.

If you haven’t already done so, make it easy on yourself and put a stop to some of this paper madness by paying your bills electronically. Consumers Credit Union offers several ways to automate your payments. You also can sign up for free e-statements, a paperless format of your Consumer CU accounts. Not only are e-statements less clutter and quicker, but it’s much safer. Once you go electronic, it’s easier to monitor all of your accounts.

Credit

Make sure your credit is in shipshape condition by reviewing your report. You can get a free copy of your credit report every 12 months from each of the three credit bureaus, TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian by visiting https://www.annualcreditreport.com. Space out your reviews by pulling your credit report from a different bureau every four months. It’s important to review your report to be aware of what’s on there and to make sure there’s nothing on your report that shouldn’t be there.

Budget

Revisit your spending plan to make sure it still fits your lifestyle and needs. A major part of spring cleaning involves organizing. Organizing your spending is a great way to manage money and remove a little more stress from your life. Track all of the purchases that you make and decide if they were necessary or gratuitous. You might surprise yourself with how much money you spent that could have been saved. Moving forward, focus your spending habits only on the things that you need and put the rest in a savings account for the future.

Savings

If you have a savings account, that’s great! But rates are always changing. Make sure that you check Consumers Credit Union’s rates and different savings products that are offered. There might be a different type of account or investment that would allow you to gain even more money in dividends.

As the weather continues to warm up, head out to your local Consumers Credit Union branch location. Our representatives would be happy to help you with these spring cleaning tips and find new ways, fitting with your lifestyle, that allow you to manage your finances more easily.